Upper Mustang

The main thing that comes to me, I would recommend Dolpa.

Upper Mustang also used to be good, but now it's becoming more of a tour destination with the new vehicles being created.

And then there's Nafu is good.

One thing that has always been in my heart will be Rovi Valley.

Okay.

Trekking-wise, except Ruri Valley, you cannot.

Ruri Valley and maybe Upper Mustang and Upper Dolpa because these are in the rainfall, shadowy area.

Most of the other regions, I would not recommend for trekking.

So these things are still taking place, business as usual.

These include the Everest region, the Annapurna Circuit, Mustang, the Dolpo region, Kanchenjunga.

These are all open Manaslu, Dhalagiri, eastern Nepal expeditions.

They remain on schedule for the autumn season.

I had cultural festivals in Papua New Guinea.

I had going to the remote kingdom of Mustang, which still most people haven't heard of.

And just things like that, that were quite different and quite unique.

And so that was what drew people in.

And, uh, he has a doctorate from the Sorbonne, from Oxford, and, uh, he's quite the, uh, uh, a famous, uh, explorer of the Himalayas.

And, uh, his, uh, dissertation, I think at Oxford was about the, uh, ancient kingdom of Mustang.

Uh, and, uh, he was in, I think in the early '60s, that he published a book that describe his, uh, exploration of this kingdom, which is, um, a part of Nepal, but very much his own Tibetan kingdom.

Mm-hmm.

So the book is called, uh, The Kingdom of Mustang.

It was a big seller, uh, translated into many different languages, and to this day, Mustang is still one of the most fascinating part of Nepal.

So we met up with him in the, uh, eastern part of, uh, Tibet, and we started to travel together because I had in mind to go into this, uh, very, uh, difficult area to access, which is...

You know, Tibet is basically, um, drained by this big river that goes from Mount Kailash all the way to, uh, to the eastern part of, uh, Tibet, and then it makes a U-turn, the river, and then come down into, uh, India and became the Brahmaputra.

they had slightly, um, mud and snow tires, you know, tires with a g- bit of grip on them for, um, for going off road.

But we were off road 90% of the time in, in the Upper Mustang Valley.

Wow.

Um, and, and to be o- there on a road-going motorcycle was just, um, a dream come true in some ways, but in others it was a nightmare.

Yeah.

Most, uh, number five, most challenging terrain you've ever faced riding.

riding.Oh, that's gotta be the Upper Mustang Valley.

Um, Lo Manthang.

So let's start with the physical terrain first.

We're looking at a 2026 trekking guide from brief Nepal and getting into Nepal's upper Mustang region.

It isn't just about walking up a hill.

No, not at

It comes down to a meteorological mechanism called orographic lift.

Okay.

So Upper Mustang sits directly behind the Annapurna and Dologiri mountain ranges.

Those are really big ones, right? Yeah,

An artifact dubbed the Makalu hand supposedly belonged to a Yeti, but the scientists on the team showed that it was feline, most likely coming from a snow leopard.

In 1958, they received word that someone had shot and killed one of the creatures in Mustang, which is a district in Nepal.

They rushed to see it only to discover that the Mustang animal was a sloth bear.

Eh, disappointing.

So what about the poo? Was it from a Yeti? Well, mm, no, probably not.

The entire valley is a palette of ocher, dust, and raw wind-scoured stone.

David actually compares the arid desert-like aesthetic to the famous rain shadow landscapes of Upper Mustang.

But if you come back during or just after the monsoon season, this exact same valley transforms.

Those dry brown terraces turn a startling, vibrant, lush green.

Like, do you find beauty in a thriving oasis, or do you find majesty in a rugged, unforgiving wasteland?

Beyond aesthetics, there are severe logistical mechanisms at play, too.

The Nar Phu Valley does not sit in a perfect rain shadow like Upper Mustang does.

Oh, so it still gets weather.